//------------------------------// // The Proposal // Story: For the Ones we Love // by FlimFlamBros. //------------------------------// I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity. During these fits of absolute unconsciousness, I drank - God only knows how often or how much. As a matter of course, my enemies referred the insanity to the drink, rather than the drink to the insanity. ~Theatre Pony 66 It was nighttime, and Spike laid awake in his bed, the beautiful mare of his dreams curled up next to him. He wanted to sleep, goddess knew that he needed it. Tomorrow would be his last day before the proverbial crap hit the preverbal fan. But he just couldn’t close his eyes; his thoughts wouldn’t let him. “Why did I kiss her?” he thought, “I should have known that she would have pulled something like that!” The dragon sighed as he looked down at the white unicorn sleeping next to him, using his chest as a pillow. She was perfect, too good for him. How on earth was he able to get a girl like her? He was scum and she was a goddess. He didn’t deserve her… He carefully lifted the mare’s head off his chest and too his side. The gentle rhythm of her soft snoring was soothing as he carefully got out of the bed, doing his best to not disturb Rarity as he crept towards the door. “Mmm, Spike…..” Spike froze as the sleepy mare slowly opened her eyes. “What are you doing?” she yawned. “It’s late, come back to bed.” “I just need to get some air,” he whispered. “Have to clear my head of a few things.” “Well, come back soon,” she mumbled. “The bed is cold without you.” “Will do honey,” the dragon said, leaning into the mare and giving her a kiss on the cheek. “I love you.” “I love you too,” the mare said, smiling as she closed her eyes and quickly drifting to sleep. With the white mare asleep, the dragon silently slipped out of the room, gently closing the door behind him. He walked down the quiet halls of the castle, thinking of what he should do about his predicament. “Should I tell her?” he thought. “That would be the right thing to do, right?” “Do you think they’ll notice?” There was someone else in the halls. Going a little out of character, he slowly crept to the voices and peeked around the corner, seeing a brown and bronze dragon leaning in the hallway. “What, that Lurch ate the entire kitchen?” laughed Glimmer. “If the pink one hasn’t ratted us out yet, I’m sure someone is going to notice eventually.” “Ah, horse crap,” the dragoness muttered. “So what should we do?” “Well it’s quite obvious what we need to do” smiled the earth dragon. “We need to eat Pinkie Pie.” Spike heart jumped, as he choked back a gasp. Did he say what he thought he said? “Now Bitter, don’t say things like that,” chuckled Glimmer. “You’re going to give Spike a heart attack.” Wait, what? “Spike, we know you’re there,” said Bitterbite, “and no, we haven’t eaten anypony, though we can’t say the same for Lurch.” “What?!” asked Spike as he came around the corner. “Who did he eat?” “I think her name was Applejack, the orange one with the hat.” “Oh goddess no!” yelped Spike. “Relax, she crawled out,” said Bitterbite, calming the purple drake down, “It’s actually a funny story. You see Pinkie was showing us how to bake cupcakes, and we’ve never had sugar before…” “And he had an overreaction,” finished Glimmer. “The guy has three tongues, so all taste is tripled for him.” “So he tried to eat my friend?” “He ate the kitchen first. Seriously, there is nothing Lurch can’t eat,” laughed Bitterbite. “Well, as long as everyone is okay,” sighed Spike. “You guys have a room for tonight?” “Nah, were just going to lie in the grass,” smiled the earth drake, putting a claw around the dragoness’s shoulder. “How romantic,” grinned Spike. “I’ll leave you to it.” “Later Spike,” winked Glimmer as the two dragons left hand in hand. “Why can’t it be that easy?” he muttered to himself, continuing down the hall. “I mean, I did what I thought was right, Rarity can’t hate me for trying to protect her, even if what I did was dirty.” He realized that he was speaking out loud, and quickly shut his mouth.“I was trying to protect her, protect her by making out with someone else.” He groaned in his mind.“This sucks, what the hell am I going to do?” “For the last time, I didn’t cheat!” Another arguing couple, was anyone asleep? “That’s bull! There is no way THAT was fair by any standards!” Was that Dust Devil’s voice? “Hey, just because I can do a sonic rainboom, that doesn’t mean you have to get all bitchy on me. Not my fault you’re being such a sore loser!” That was defiantly Rainbow. Guessing from what he heard, Rainbow won that little race, and Dust Devil was having a hard time accepting it. “Up yours, pony!” barked the black and pink dragon. “You wish!” Rainbow shouted back. “Trouble in paradise?” smiled Spike as he walked to the arguing dragon and pony. “Spike, I’m glad you’re here,” said the sky drake. “We need an outside ruling. She cheated in our race. She used some sort of the ‘sonic rainboom’ or something.” “It’s not cheating!” frowned Rainbow. “I was just using what was at my disposal!” “Yeah, I’m not touching this with a thirty foot pole,” muttered the dragon. “I’m sure you two lovebirds can work it out.” “Excuse me!” both Rainbow and Dust Devil shouted in unison. “Look, I don’t know what sort of urges you two are fighting, but I have a lot to think about without worrying about your sexual tension,” yawned Spike as he pushed passed the two of them. “I’m not saying to go and do it behind the curtains, but figure something out.” He left the two of them alone and confused. He heard the two continue arguing behind them. “They would make such a good couple,” he said, taking a deep breath as he turned down the hall, just as the door of the throne room cracked open. “And I haven’t seen Bunsen since then, man!” a blue unicorn said as he pushed open the door for a red unicorn, they were both adorned in golden guard armour. “I’m telling you Heart Shield, she’s a bit of a weird one. I mean you were here trainer, what is she like?” “Well Dragoon,” the one called Heart Shield muttered, “She’s a total klutz and completely incompetent, and she’s one of those ‘smarty pant’ ponies with a ‘fancy science degree’,” the unicorn mocked sarcastically. “Really? I thought she was actually kind of cute,” the blue pony blushed. “I was actually considering asking her out.” “Don’t bother,” the red one said bluntly. “Why not?” “Just don’t,” the red unicorn. “That wasn’t an answer,” Dragoon said. “In fact; I would say it was a threat!” “Take it as you will, all I’m saying is that I’ve been down that road, and there ain’t a happy ending,” Heart Shield muttered. “You asked her out?” the confused blue unicorn asked. “But it sounds like you hate her.” “Well, she’s cute,” he said, turning his head away to the stallion couldn’t see him blush.“You know, for a nerdy klutz.” “Yeah, there’s just something about purple mares,” Dragoon sighed dreamily. “So don’t ask her out.” “What?” Dragoon asked, snapping back to reality. “Just trying to help you out,” the red pony muttered. “Sure,” the blue pony said bluntly. “It’s not like you still have feeling for her or anything.” “Of course not.” The two guard ponies went in opposite direction, Dragoon to the left, and Heart Shield to the right. Spike couldn’t make it out, but he could have sworn that the tough red pony was starting to cry a little. He didn’t even see Spike as he walked right pass him. “That was weird,” thought Spike. “Wonder who they were fighting about.” He shrugged it off, it wasn’t his place to be snooping into other ponies business, especially ponies that he didn’t know. Grunting passed it, he continued down the hall. He saw light peek out of Twilight’s room. Of course the night owl was still up, probably still studying about something. The dragon gently knocked on the door. “Who is it?” “It’s Spike, can I come in?” “Of course!” she said, unlocking and opening the door with magic. “What’s up Spike?” The dragon entered the room. Twilight’s room was a lot like his, a queen size bed, a dresser, and a nightstand. The only major difference was that there were stacks upon stacks of books. The purple unicorn was sitting at one of the desks, nose deep in a book. “I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” the dragon asked closing the door behind him. “Of course not,” said the violet mare, closing her book. “I was just going to call it a night.” “Then maybe I should come back later.” “Spike, don’t be silly” Twilight said, jumping on the bed, patting the spot next to me. “I always have time for my little brother.” The dragon’s heart warmed up at the sound of those words. He was like a little brother to the mare, maybe not so little anymore but she has always been there for him. He took a seat next to the mare on the bed, his eyes locked to the ground. “Spike, is something wrong?” asked Twilight. “You seem upset.” “I guess that’s why you’re a genius,” he said sarcastically. “Well, are you?” “More than you can possibly imagine,” the dragon sighed. “So what’s on your mind?” “It’s Conquest, I don’t think I can beat him.” “But Spike, I know you can.” “You haven’t seen him Twilight!” he growled. “You have no idea what he’s like! He’s a sociopathic monster!” He wiped away a tear that was forming around his eye. “All he does is cause pain to everything he touches, and he seems completely un-killable.” “He can’t be that bad…” “HE KILLED MY MOTHER!” the dragon shouted, small sparks of green fire leaving his mouth as he continued to yell. “He killed her, and all my unhatched siblings, and do you know why he did it?!” He glared at the frightened mare who said nothing. “Because he could! Everything he does is for fun, he has no desire in life except to cause a worldwide genocide, to kill everything else on the planet, and apparently, I’m the only one who can stop him!” The purple mare looked at Spike with those big purple eyes of her. They were slowly tearing up as wrapped her arms around Spike. “I’m so sorry Spike, I had no idea he was that terrible.” “Twilight,” said the dragon, brushing a claw down her mane, “you have no idea.” “Is that all that is on your mind?” “No,” admitted Spike. “It’s Rarity.” “Did she do something?” “It’s nothing that she did, it’s what I did,” groaned the dragon. “What did you do?” “I--” He took a deep breath. “I cheated on her.” “You what!?” “I kissed another dragon when I was in the Badlands.” “Why would you do something like that?!” yelled Twilight. “I was try to protect her!” “How does locking lips with a dragon protect Rarity?” the unicorn scowled. “It was an old ex-girlfriend, you know the one I told you about, and she tricked me. She said if I kissed her, she would help me bring the dragons to come and help us, but you can see how well that turned out.” There was silence as the purple mare digested the stream of information. She knew that he wasn’t lying; it wasn’t in his nature to lie about something like this. But, it was also not in his nature to do something like that, even if he had good intentions. “Have you told her yet?” she asked. “No, and I’m not sure if I should.” “Spike,” sighed the mare, “I know that you know the right thing to do.” “I should tell her.” “You should tell her, but you’re not.” The drake scrunched his face with confuzzlement, “Excuse me?” “All I’m saying is do you really want your last day with Rarity to be ruined over this?” “…. No.” “Then for now, just keep it to yourself,” the unicorn said. “Make tomorrow the best day ever for her. You both deserve it.” The dragon cracked a smile. “You really are a genius, aren’t you?” “I try,” she smiled back, giving him another hug. “You’re a great guy Spike, and I’m so happy to have you in my life.” “Me too Twi, me too,” said Spike. “Hey, do you think I could sleep in here, for old times’ sake?” “Of course,” Twilight whispered. “Let me get you a blanket.” She got off the bed and pulled the purple blanket off, placing it neatly on the ground. “Thanks,” said the dragon, as he laid down on the ground, curling up in the blanket, almost like a cat. “Takes you back, huh?” “I missed those days,” sighed Twilight as she curled up in the remaining sheets of the bed. “I took me almost a month to get to sleep without the sound of your snoring.” “I don’t snore, I purr.” “Whatever,” yawned the brainy mare. “The point is that it was heart breaking when you wanted your own room.” “I’m sorry.” “It’s okay, I knew that you would eventually want your own room, I just wish you could have stayed my little brother forever.” “Hey!” chuckled Spike, “I will always be your little brother.” “I know Spike,” the unicorn sighed, turning of the light with a brush of magic. “Goodnight Spike.” “Goodnight Twilight, I love you.” ***** “Has anypony seen Spike?” asked Rarity at breakfast. The pickings were slim, as Lurch ate the fridge and most of the food yesterday. So it was mostly just cold cereal and toast, not exactly a royal breakfast. “I haven’t seen the big guy since yesterday,” Applejack said, taking a bite out of her toast. “I thought he was hanging with you.” “I guess you could say that,” blushed the white mare. “But he went for a walk at night, said he needed some air, and I haven’t seen him since then.” “I reckon he’ll show eventually,” said the cowpony. “Probably went out to get some real food.” “I suppose, what exactly happened in the kitchen?” “Trust me, you don’t want to know,” muttered Applejack. “Hey guys!” the energetic pink pony hopped over to the table, “Whatcha talking about? ” “Hey Pinkie, were just trying to figure out were Spike went,” said the orange mare. “Oh I know where he is!” she said happily, “I met saw him heading into town. He said that I was to tell Rarity to meet him in the observatory tonight at eight o’ clock sharp!” “Why on earth couldn’t he tell me this himself?” asked Rarity. “I don’t know” shrugged Pinkie, “But I bet it’s a surprise!” “I see,” smiled the white unicorn, looking out the window. “What on earth are you planning Spike?” ***** The purple drake walked down the hallway of the castle, he had to be careful not to be seen by to anypony, especially Rarity. He had already talked to Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Twilight about his plan, and he knew Pinkie would get the message to Rarity. Everything was set, he just needed to get one more thing, and find a place to hide until later. He was so lost in his thoughts, he didn’t see the pony turning the corner, and collided head first with him. “Watch where you’re going, dragon,” groaned the pony. “Nice to see you too, Curb Hoof,” muttered the dragon. “Did you miss me?” “Why would I miss you?” “Nevermind,” the drake got up from the ground. The guard pony shoved passed him as he went down the hall. “Okay, what is your problem with me?” The white unicorn stopped and turned around and glared at Spike. “I don’t like you,” he said. “I don’t like you, I don’t like your kind, and I don’t like your face. I hate dragons.” He turned around and walked down the hall, disappearing around the corner. “Jackass,” mumbled Spike, as he continued down the hall in the opposite direction. He found the corridor he was looking for, the one that went down into the earth, and into ‘The Den’ where Forge was. Pushing past the large iron door of The Den, he felt a soothing blast of heat. The lava ponds were still glowing a crimson red and golden yellow and there were racks of armour and weapons still littered everywhere. Just the way he left it. “Is that you Spike?” the red and gold dragon head slowly rose from one of the beds of lava. He had been sleeping in the lava, apparently. “Hey Forge, taking a nap?” wondered Spike. “When you get to my age Spike, your body starts to betray you,” he chuckled, crawling out of the lava bath. “Never grow old, Spike.” “C’mon, you’re only what, a thousand years old?” said Spike, “You still got a few millennia left.” “Then why do I feel like I’m pushing five thousand?” “What, are you sick?” asked Spike, becoming increasingly concerned for his friend. “I’ll be okay,” Forge mumbled, brushing off what was left of the lava off his body. “Now, rumor has it that there are other dragons here now. Is that true, or are the ponies pulling my tail?” “It’s true,” said Spike, “I flew to the Badlands to get help from the dragons.” “Now why would you do something like that?” chuckled the red dragon. “I thought they still had a grudge against the ponies, especially Inferno.” “I met him, and yeah they still hate us.” “Us?” asked the forging dragon, pounding his hammer into some sheet metal. “When did we become ponies?” Spike rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean, but that Inferno guy, what’s his deal? The other four dragons seemed a little quiet, except for this one called Rockjaw, and Inferno seemed to disregard everything he said.” Forge sighed, “Inferno is a proud dragon. But with it comes ignorance and intolerance. He’s still bitter over the dragon wars, most dragons can hardly believe it.” “What exactly happened?” Spike asked. “During the dragon wars? How did the ponies win?” “Honestly, I don’t remember,” said the red dragon. “I doubt even Inferno and the other Elders remember what happened. All they know is that they have a bone to pick with the ponies.” “That’s very…..” “Dragon of them,” finished Forge, laughing a bit at his own joke. “But the past is in the past, and we must focus of the present!” He went into the back of the armory, pushing past some hanging swords and battleaxes. “I know I put it here somewhere…. Ah ha! Here it is!” He pulled out a decent size rock, around the size of a baseball. “Here’s that special request you asked for a while back.” “Thanks….” Said Spike taking the rock out of Forge’s hand. “This wasn’t what I had in mind…” “Just crack it open like an egg when the time is right,” the wise dragon said, putting a claw on the purple drake’s shoulder. “Trust me, I know what I’m doing.” “If you say so,” shrugged Spike, tucking the rock under his scales for later. “I guess I’ll be off.” “Say hi to Rarity for me.” “I will,” said Spike, taking two steps to the door, before turning around. “Wait, how did you know her name? I never told you that.” “Oh right,” laughed Forge, face-palming his face. “You weren’t here when we had our little chat.” “Rarity came down here?” “Heavens no,” said the red drake, taking a seat on the edge of one of his many tubs of lava. “She met me when I was on one of my armour runs. There’s another door way in the back that leads directly into the bunkers where I collect dull blades and dented armour and replace it with new ones. When I was making my trip to the mare’s corridors, I saw a white unicorn looking around. I knew she was the mare you were talking about cause she mistaken me for you” he laughed. “She was all ‘Oh my Spikey Wikey, is that really you?!’ Kind of funny that she mistook this scarred up mug for yours,” he said, pointing to his heavily scarred, one eyed face. “Huh,” hummed the purple drake. “What did you two talk about?” “Nothing much, I told her a few things about dragons and what I did around the castle, she told me she was a fashion designer or something, she gave me a few pointers on design, even though I have no use for it, and I gave her pointers on forging which I know she won’t have any use for. Then we talked about you for a bit, and then I left,” sighed the red drake. “She’s a good mare Spike, don’t lose her like I did.” “Excuse me?” Forge’s eye widened as he quickly looked away. “Forget I said anything,” he quickly muttered. “Forge…..” Spike asked quietly, “Did something happen to someone you loved?” The dragon smith sighed, “Do you really want to know?” Spike shook his head. “All right, here’s the story. It was a few years after I was banished from Volcanna, and I was making my way towards Equestria. My original plan was to cut through Equestria and head north to the Crystal Mountains. But when I was cutting through the Everfree Forest, I saw the most wonderful creature.” “What?” “A spring dragon Spike, one of the rarest and most mysterious members of our race. They don’t live in Volcanna, and they weren’t involved in the wars, they tend to keep to themselves and have managed to hide themselves in myths and legends,” said Forge. “I had caught this particular one in the middle of her afternoon bath.” “And how did she like that?” “Well,” chuckled Forge, “They aren’t rare because they’re used to being seen. The second she saw me, she dove into the water. I wasn’t a strong swimmer, so going after her was a problem, but I knew that she would eventually have to come up for air, so I waited. She could hold her breath for a good long while, but not forever. She was mighty mad when she went up for air and I was still there. She started cursing at me in some sort of strange language I never heard of and then ran away.” “So what did you do?” “I followed her, of course,” said the red dragon matter-o-factly. “Really?” “Have you ever seen a spring dragon? They’re beautiful, there scales are like leaves, sticking out a bit like feathers, and they have these long slick bodies, kind of like a cloudweaver. So of course I followed her.” “Sounds dreamy,” said the sly purple drake. “What happened when you caught up to her? “I tried my best to explain that I had no desire to hurt her,” said Forge. “She had a relative understanding of Equestrian, and we were able to come to an understanding. I told her my name and I found out her name was Mist, beautiful name Mist. We spent the next couple of months getting to know each other, and at some point we fell in love. Love is truly a beautiful thing, is it not?” “Depends on the kind of love.” “Well this was true love. Or at least it was…” sighed the forge dragon. “Everything was absolutely perfect, so I should have figured something terrible was waiting around the corner, namely you know who.” Spike groaned. “That’s when you fought Conquest, wasn’t it?” The red drake nodded. “It took me completely by surprise. One minute I’m lying on the grass with Mist, the next minute, the ground starts shaking and a black pony bursts out of the ground, laughing manically. I was a little pissed, so I did the not so smart thing and breathed fire on him. Well, that only made him laugh more. Seriously, forget about fire with him, the guy was probably baptized in hell.” “Noted.” “Anyways, after that, he leapt at me. He’s fast Spike, and strong, and when you think you have him, he spits something in your face. In my case, it was a pissed off pair of skeleton squirrel zombie things. That’s how I get these.” He pointed to his face and its many scars. “It was a long and brutal fight, I thought it was all over when he got that lucky punch in and knocked my eye clean out of my skull.” Spike cringed a little. “Ouch.” “That’s not even the half of it, as I was getting off the ground; he thought that would be the perfect time to rip my wings out. That hurt immensely. But what really hurt was what I saw next. He had managed to grab Mist, he held her in his hoof, and started to whisper all the terrible things that he was going to do to her. Thank the goddess that Celestia showed up when she did.” “The princess showed up? Was she able to stop Conquest?” “With the elements yes, but not before Conquest did something absolutely terrible.” “What?” “He…” Forge paused. “He ripped out her heart, and ate. He just ate it right in front of me.” “That’s...that’s terrible.” The red dragon looked down and sighed. “After he did that I lost it. He took the one thing I loved after all. So I ripped his head off, he didn’t even fight back. He just kept laughing. Even when his head was clean off his body, he kept on laughing, kept on joking. Making fun of the situation like it was one big gag. I threw his still alive head into the portal that the princess conjured up and ran to my love’s side.” “It was too late…. Wasn’t it?” “It was, but I was desperate, I wanted to save her so bad!” sniffed the red drake, wiping a possible tear away from his good eye. “I would have done anything to save her, and that is exactly what I did.” “What did you do?” “I gave her my heart.” “YOU WHAT?!” spat out Spike in disbelief. “Let me show you something, Spike,” said Forge, getting up from where he was. He slowly flexed open one of his pointy claws. And with expert precision, he cut a line into his skin. A slow trail of blood spilled out as he continued to make the cut, grunting only slightly from the pain. Spike watched in awe as he finished, sticking his fingers into the new hole and pulling his scales apart. “Take a look Spike.” The purple drake took a look through the hole in the dragon. Beyond the thick flesh and muscle was Forge’s beating heart. Spike had never seen a dragon’s heart before, so he wasn’t sure what to expect. It was fairly large, not as big as he thought, roughly the size and shape of a pear. The heart was shiny and metallic looking, almost as if it were made of gold. But there was something odd about it. The beating seemed much faster and irregular than what a normal heart would beat, and it looked like it was crudely cut up and ravaged. “A dragon’s heart is a fascinating organ, Spike,” said Forge as he pressed the skin back together, breathing a little fire into his hand and placing it on the cut. “They can beat for five thousand years, heal almost any injury within minutes or hours, and gives us are strength and power. The heart is so powerful, it can even continue beating for hours after being torn from the body, and can even continue beating when cut in half.” He sighed, pausing for just a moment. “And that is exactly what I did. I gave her half my heart in an attempt to save her, I had hoped I was quick enough and there would be enough time for the heart to hook out and pump out all the toxins death brings, but it was all for nothing. She died in my arms a few minutes later.” Spike didn’t know what to say. All he could do was look at the dragon in front of him slowly break down and feel nothing but pity. Pity for the broken shell of a dragon that stood before him, the dragon that literally gave his heat to save the one he loves. “I know what you’re thinking Spike,” said Forge, putting a claw on his shoulder. “And I want you to know that I don’t regret what I did, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.” “But what happens when you do that, cut your heart in half?” “Does what you would think, it slowly kills you.” He said. “The candle that burns twice as hard only lasts half as long. My body is getting on in decades, things start to hurt a bit more than they use to, I’m not as strong, nor can I heal as fast. With only half a heart Spike, I will be lucky if I reach my twenty-five hundredth birthday.” “I’m…I’m sorry.” “Don’t pity me,” chuckled Forge, “But you need to promise me something. You need to promise me that you will end this Spike.” His tone grew more serious. “You have to promise me that you will stop Conquest once and for all, locking him up isn’t going to cut it anymore. He’s hurt so many ponies and broken so many hearts. Avenge them Spike, avenge them and then love your mare, marry her, spend the rest of your lives together. Promise me this, Spike.” Spike nodded his head. “I promise.” ***** “Spike? Spike, where are you?” called Rarity. It was later in the evening, and she had just walked into the observatory. In the middle of the room was a large telescope, and next to it a small table with a piece of paper on it. “What’s this?” she asked herself. She walked to the table, and picked up and read the note. To my very special love, There are so many things that we could do together, and I can think of no one better to do it with than with you, unfortunately we only have a little time left before I must go out and fight. We could go for a walk on the beach in the moonlight, or have a romantic candlelight dinner for two. Perhaps I would take you in my arms and we would soar through the skies, my love, or we could just stay in by the fire, cuddling in its warmth all night. But, there is only time to do one thing, and it is the most important one of all. Please look into the telescope, my love. “What could he mean?” wondered Rarity, looking at the telescope, it was pointing towards and out of the ceiling, where a skylight had been made so it was easier to stargaze. “Look in the telescope?” slowly she put an eye to the lens. “What is so import—Oh my….” There was so little time. In the morning, Spike would have to go out to battle, and there was a chance that he wouldn’t survive. They had only one night left together. Sure, they could have gone out on a dinner date, but did they really need to waste time with such things? Flying would be nice, to be cuddled in his strong arms as they flew over the clouds, but this was better. A walk on the beach sounded romantic, but this was more so. As for cuddling by the fire…. Well, it wasn’t that late. But they were all trifles compared to what Spike had done this evening. He truly picked the best way to spend the night, and it was written in the sky…. Will you marry me? “It took Luna all day to get the stars right.” Rarity turned around, Spike was on one knee. “Is this really happening?” “Rarity, from the moment I laid my eyes on you, you had been the only thing that I have been able to ever think about..." This is happening! “I know we wasted a lot of time jumping around our love, afraid that the other didn’t feel the same, and would jeopardize our friendship....” I think I’m going to faint! “But we were able to move past that and now here I am, down on one knee. I know I may not be the stallion you wanted, or a price from a fairy tale, but I love you Rarity.” He reached into his scales, pulling out the rock Forge had given him, and cracked it open. Inside was a perfectly crafted ring, meant to go around a unicorn’s horn. “So will you do me the honour of making me the happiest drake on the planet and mar—“ “YES, YES, YES! A MILLION TIMES YES!” the ecstatic white mare cheered, jumping onto the drake, knocking him back, bombarding him with kisses all ever his face. “I will marry you, Spike!” she slipped on the ring over her horn, it felt so right. “This ring is lovely, where did you get it?” “I had Forge make it, the jewels around the edges are dragon tears, and I know how much you love them.” “It’s absolutely beautiful, darling, and I love it,” cooed the unicorn. “This is wonderful, positively wonderful.” “I’m glad you’re happy,” sighed Spike. “It just gives me another reason to live.” “Please don’t talk about that,” said Rarity, getting on top of the downed dragon. “Tonight, there is no war, no Conquest, no drama. It’s just you, me….. And a very special friend” she motioned to the door, as it slowly creaked open. “Princess Luna?” “Hello Spike,” the night princess smiled, slowly closing the door behind her. “W-what are you doing here?” The tall dark mare gave Spike a hot, sultry look, her eyes filled with lust. “I owe Rarity a favour, so consider this… An engagement gift.”